By Rene Acosta & Bernadette D. Nicolas
Malacañang on Thursday took offense over the passage of Chinese warships through Philippine waters without informing the country’s authorities, saying it was “not an act of friendship.”
In a Palace briefing, Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo also said he will call China’s attention to the issue since five more Chinese warships have been recently spotted in Sibutu Strait.
This, even after Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana has secured a commitment from Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua that Beijing will require their ships to inform the Chinese Embassy about the intended passage in Sibutu so that they could relay this to Manila.
“Let’s just say that we express concern with that kind of incident because if they keep on saying that we are friends, I don’t think this is an act of friendship,” Panelo told reporters.
The Palace spokesman also said he intends to raise the issue to Zhao in a dinner meeting. “We will call their attention. The Chinese Ambassador has invited me for dinner one of these days. Maybe I will raise that to him.”
Reports indicated that two Chinese warships were again spotted in July and three more were spotted this month.
Last July, Lorenzana revealed Chinese warships passed through Sibutu Strait in “four instances” starting early this year without informing the Philippine government.
The defense chief said Manila has always required navies to seek diplomatic clearance from the Philippine government when they are passing through.
Last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it is filing a diplomatic protest over the reported presence of Chinese survey ships entering the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone.
President Duterte is set to go have a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this month to invoke the arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s claims in the West Philippine Sea.
The President has also said he wants to hasten the conclusion of the Code of Conduct to prevent untoward incidents in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines is the country coordinator for Asean-China Dialogue Relations until 2021.
‘Disrespectful’
China appeared to have lost its respect for the Philippines as a sovereign state since its military warships continue to sail through the country’s waters.
“It seemed like they already owned Sibutu and Balabac Straits,” said Lorenzana on Thursday in response to the report of the Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command (Wescom) about the continued passage of Chinese Navy vessels.
The ships reportedly tried to conceal their identities by shutting off their automatic identification system (AIS).
Sibutu and Balabac Straits are the country’s maritime waters and are located in Tawi-tawi and Palawan, respectively. Since February this year, at least 14 Chinese warships have already passed through the two waterways, but all of the vessels have turned off their AIS or even deliberately ignored calls to identify themselves.
“They did not inform us nor responded to challenges from our naval monitoring stations. They also shut their automatic identification system,” Lorenzana said in response to the latest incursions by the Chinese warships.
On Wednesday, Wescom Commander Major Gen. Cirilito Sobejana disclosed that two Chinese Navy vessels transited through the Sibutu Strait last month, while three more Chinese warships sailed through the same waters this month.
“It was not an innocent passage because if it is innocent passage, it should only be in straight line. If you swerve, that is no longer an innocent passage,” he said referring to the course taken by the five ships while they were in the Sibutu Strait.
As a maritime practice, any ship can pass through the maritime waters of any state by way of innocent passage, but for military ships, they must at least identify themselves and ensure that their AIS are on while transiting. A proper protocol even requires the military ship to obtain clearance prior to its passage to any state’s waters.
Sobejana said that when the Chinese warships were spotted by the Wescom’s naval assets, the ships immediately sailed out of the country’s maritime territory. However, the incidents were reported to the military’s general headquarters and to the Department of National Defense.
Lorenzana scored China over its demeanor, saying it was only Beijing that has not been observing proper maritime conduct, something that has been the concern by its other neighbors in the region and even by the United States.
“All other warships, we are informed of their passing. Only the Chinese refuse to conform to internationally accepted norms by ignoring them,” the defense chief said.
“This, despite the Chinese Ambassador’s word that henceforth he would ask the PLA [People’s Liberation Army]-Navy to inform their embassy in the Philippines, who will, in turn, inform us of any passing PLAN warships passing through our territorial waters,” Lorenzana added.
The assurance was given after Lorenzana relayed to Zhao the government’s concern over the successive transiting of four Chinese warships beginning in February this year in the Sibutu Strait, but without identifying themselves and even shutting down their AIS.
A Chinese aircraft carrier had also reportedly passed through Sibutu Strait.